Liar. Harry Potter's sister ~ Book 2

chapter twenty-four

The next morning at breakfast was when some of the worst of our fears came true:

Hermione gave a loud yelp, throwing her hands over her mouth as she flattened out this morning's copy of the Daily Prophet. Her empty goblet was knocked over by her hand and clattered to the floor, causing everyone in the vicinity to snap their heads around and stare at her. I look up from my cereal to see her horrified face.

"What is it?" I say, dropping my spoon into my bowl and pulling the newspaper across the table towards me. Harry and Ron look over at the paper from either side of my shoulders, reading along with me.

On the very front page, showed ten black and white photographs, nine of which displayed the faces of wizards and the last one, a witch. I realised very quickly that they weren't just any photographs, they were Azkaban mugshots. Each photograph was captioned with a name, along with a crime in which was the reasoning for their sentence.

Antonin Dolohov, convicted of the brutal murders of Fabian and Gideon Prewett.

Augustus Rookwood, convicted of leaking Ministry of Magic secrets to He Who Must Not Be Named.

My eyes, however, were drawn to the witch in the bottom right corner. Her face had stood out to me when I first glanced at the page. Her face was framed in long dark hair that, in the picture, looked unkempt and straggly, but I had seen it to look sleek and shiny before. Her heavy-lidded eyes stared at me right through the page. An arrogant, disdainful smile was playing around and twisting at her lips as she cackled in the photograph. The hairs on the back of my neck were prickling as I stare at her cold, thinning face. Her cheeks looked like they had been chiselled away and I guessed sleeping arrangements weren't the best in Azkaban, as dark, heavy circles hung under her eyes like shadows. My eyes fall to the caption beneath:

Bellatrix Lestrange, convicted of the torture and permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom.

Hermione nudged me and slid her finger across the page, pointing at the headline I had not yet read:

MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN MINISTRY FEARS BLACK IS 'RALLYING POINT' FOR OLD DEATH EATERS

"Black?" Harry says loudly, looking up to Hermione. "Not-?"

"Shhh," Hermione hisses, "Not so loud, just read it!"

The Ministry of Magic announced late last night there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban.
Speaking to reporters in his private office, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, confirmed that ten high-security prisoners escaped in the early hours of yesterday evening and that he has already informed the Muggle Prime Minister of the dangerous nature of these individuals.
"We find ourselves, most unfortunately, in the same position we were two and a half years ago, when the murdered Sirius Black escaped," said Fudge, last night. "Nor do we think the two breakouts are unrelated. An escape of this magnitude suggests outside help, and we must remember that Black, as the first person ever to break out of Azkaban, would be ideally placed to help others follow in his footsteps. We think it's highly likely that these individuals, who include Black's cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, have rallied around Black as their leader. We are, however, doing all we can to round up these criminals, and we beg the magical community to remain cautious. On no account should any of these individuals be approached."

"I don't believe this," I snarl as I reach the bottom of the extract, "Fudge is blaming Sirius for this?"

"What other options does he have?" Hermione says, bitterly, looking down at the newspaper gravely, "He can hardly say 'Sorry, everyone, Dumbledore warned me this might happen, the Azkaban guards have joined Lord Voldemort and now his worst supporters have broken out too." - I mean he's spent the last six months telling everyone you and Dumbledore are liars hasn't he?"